Fans gathered at Madison Square Garden for the ‘Star Trek: Discovery‘ panel at New York Comic Con this past Saturday got quite an amazing surprise when a fan wearing oversized sunglasses and a mask asked the cast “Is Captain Georgiou coming back?” right before revealing her identity as Michelle Yeoh herself, causing the cast and creators to jump up and embrace her as she took the stage, and the audience roared with delight. She immediately got up on stage, then turned to the crowd and assured them, “I’m not going to let them kill me, okay?” right before turning to the new (and main) captain on the series, Jason Isaacs, and stating:

“The most amazing journey has been with Sonequa, so I’m telling you, Captain Lorca, if you don’t look after my baby girl, I will come and kick your ass. And you know I can do that.”

Which of course, Isaacs knew she could do, replying with, “I would say I’d like to see you try, but I really wouldn’t want to see you try.” Toward the end of the panel, just to confirm for everyone present that Yeoh’s character was indeed coming back to the series, Executive Producer Gretchen J. Berg did confirm for all “You will see more of this woman on this show.”

Of course, the whole panel was not just about Michelle Yeoh and Captain Georgiou, they also spoke about how different the new series is compared to what came before, how much darker the narrative is, and more serialized. According to Executive Producer Akiva Goldsman:

“We are a wholly serial narrative, and in that wholly serialized narrative, we get to tell character stories over plot. If Jim Kirk had to deal with Edith Keeler’s death in [the Star Trek: The Original Series episode] ‘The City on the Edge of Forever,’ if it were real, it would take a season or a series, it would not be fine the next week. We can stretch those emotions out for a season… Ours is the origin of the feeling that is The Original Series, that’s why we’re 10 years before The Original Series.”

They also discussed characters we have yet to meet on the new series, such as the one played by Wilson Cruz who will be a part of the first gay couple on ‘Star Trek.’ In the words of Cruz:

“I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of Star Trek TV’s first gay couple. I can’t say how much that means to me personally as a fan of the series and as a member of the LGBT community… And I’m proud of the fact that none of that really matters in the show.”

Also yet to be seen is the character played by Shazad Latif, who we will meet in prison alongside another familiar face:

“You meet me with Rainn Wilson. I’m going through some horrible things in there, and that’s what happens.”

The panel also included a sneak peek at Episode 4 of ‘Discovery,’ which involves a plot that has Isaac’s Captain Lorca showing off his weapons cache to Michael Burnham, including the new creature he captured last week, which he plans to use with her help. All in all, it definitely seemed like quite an exciting panel for the fans, and promised a lot for the future of the series, which so far has been off to a rocky, but not altogether unpromising start. Here’s hoping the series can find more firm footing as they keep going.

Nicholas Graff

A Southern California native (which seems to be a rarity as everyone seems to migrate here from outside the state, and everyone else born here ends up leaving for less crowded spaces), but for Nick, he loves it here. Nick has been writing since he was a teenager, self-published his first book trilogy, 'The Legacy of the Roras' back in 2011, and in 2014 published the inaugural issue of his first comic book, 'The Shadow of Aquaterra.' While not working on my own projects, he is working as a technical film editor at a major television network in their digital media division and recently began writing news and recap articles for ScienceFiction.com, a position which he has found extremely rewarding.